PINES MAYOR A 'FIGHTER'

Just months ago, Mayor Alex Fekete launched a campaign considered crazy in political circles - strip the Broward School Board of its power to build schools.

Although his idea went nowhere fast, that didn't stop him from trying to relieve the classroom crunch in his city.

Fekete's trademark tenacity finally paid off on Tuesday when School Board members agreed to let Pembroke Pines build two new schools in exchange for donating $3 million to older schools in eastern Broward.

The compromise deal, which Superintendent Frank Petruzielo fought until the end, revealed Fekete's ability to take on a stubborn institution and win - not unlike his pushy mentor, the late Mayor Charles Flanagan.

It was the kind of triumph that thrust Fekete, 50, a Hungarian immigrant who fled Communist rule as a child, into the spotlight of Broward politics.

"This success puts him on the map of countywide politics," said state Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Davie, who lobbied for his school-building plan.

Fekete, still smarting from his public battle with Petruzielo, said his $41 million proposal took months to reach fruition.

The donation for eastern schools materialized only last week. Through it all, Flanagan's legacy - and flair for cutting deals - kept Fekete going.

"I watched his perseverance for years," Fekete said on Thursday. "When you know you're right about something, you just push ahead."

For nearly a year, Fekete and Pembroke Pines officials worked on various plans that involved using impact fees paid by developers for school-construction loans.

As he unveiled each plan, board members rebuffed what they saw as his bid to wrest away some of their control over one of the nation's largest school districts.

But his last proposal was just too sweet for Miriam Oliphant - the School Board's swing vote - to pass up. The $3 million quid pro quo will go for renovating schools and new computers in eastern cities, a condition needed to justify the deal in her eyes.

Fekete said that no matter how much he tried to develop a fair plan for Pembroke Pines, he would ultimately fail unless he overcame the public perception of educational inequality between western and eastern Broward cities.

Before supporting Fekete's plan, the School Board had approved only one elementary school in Pembroke Pines during the next five years. This despite the expectation there will 1,200 more elementary students by the fall of 1998 and 750 additional middle school students.

The mayor, elected to his first four-year term last year, said he felt pressure to deal with school crowding because there is no guarantee voters will support a proposed $800 million bond issue in November.

Another inspiration for his city's 11th-hour donation came from Weston.

Weston will get 92 portable classrooms next year and three new permanent schools within three years under a $53 million deal brokered by the County Commission and Arvida/JMB Partners, the city's largest developer. Arvida will provide $10.2 million to the school district for portable classrooms and lease payments for schools in Weston. Of that, $4.2 million doesn't have to be repaid and $6 million is an interest-free loan.

Fekete's plan, approved 4-3 by the School Board, calls for setting up a special assessment district for five developers who will build about 3,000 homes in western Pembroke Pines. The city convinced the developers, who have grown increasingly worried about crowded schools, to donate more than their required share of impact fees.

In turn, the city plans to borrow against those anticipated payments to finance the construction of an $11.7 million elementary school and a $21 million middle school. They would open in the fall of 1998.

The city will lease the buildings to the school district, which will have the opportunity to buy them before 2003.

In addition, the city will lend the school district another $3 million, at no interest, to build a 24-classroom addition to Charles W. Flanagan High School.

The last part of the deal calls for using $2 million in impact fees for classroom and portable additions to local elementary schools and another $3 million in fees for eastern schools outside Pembroke Pines. The latter amount is all the developers were willing to give, Fekete said.

Fekete repeatedly argued that his city would be saving the district time and money in the long run. During the school board's meeting on Tuesday, he borrowed lines from a video about a Broward elementary school with a "we can" attitude. "Let us sit and figure out how we can do this," said Fekete, known for doing his homework and not mincing words.

His message worked.

"He plays to win; he doesn't play to lose," said Martin Larsen, a political consultant who worked as a volunteer for Fekete's mayoral campaign.

But Larsen said Fekete, an entrepreneur who owns a commercial film business, is willing to compromise as long as he achieves his goal.

"When he knows he's on the right track, there's no turning back," he said. "It's not necessary that it always be his way, but he will find a way to bring everyone to the table and get it done."

Even Fekete concedes his aggressive style is sometimes brash and leads to political run-ins.

"I'm very aggressive," Fekete said. "I'm just fighting for what I believe in."